Storm Front, Cirrus Clouds, and a Ray of Sunshine
by Spryte Magnus
Summary: Surprisingly, very little of this tale focuses on Cloud. This is the a tale of a Turk, a Mercenary, and a working girl at Honey Bee In. Cameos of Yuffie, Vincent, Turks, and Rufus. Maybe others.
1. Chapter 1

Storm, Cirrus, and Ray

* * *

(Disclaimer: I do not own the world of FFVII, Jenova, Geostigma, or anything else you may identify. Ray, Cirrus, and Storm are my inventions though)

* * *

If you ask anyone in Midgar about Shin-Ra, do you know what they'll probably say? The ones who made SOLDIER, right? You know that First Class SOLDIER-the tall silver haired one, Sephiroth? He went mad. Nearly took out the world with a meteor. Their science dude, Hojo, was a lunatic.

Or.

Yeah, I knew they were scum. Been an AVALANCHE sympathizer the whole time. You know, that blonde guy, what was his name, with the spike hair? He had it going.

Even though Cloud, the blonde in question, was really part of Shin-Ra originally.

The point here is there were quite a few extraordinary people who existed in Midgar around the same time.

Or, to be more exact in several cases, along side some of the people you already know.

These tales of three of those lives take place one year after the rise and fall of Deep Ground.


	2. Chapter 2

Storm had been a mercenary for as long as she could remember. Even back when she accepted Shin-Ra jobs. She lived up to her name, faster then lightning, and just as deadly. Her hair was storm cloud black with lightning highlights, and her eyes were like those of a Hurricane. Calm, quiet, and sky blue. She was used to killing to survive, or doing what ever she needed. Her story begins with a job. Her height was about 5''6 and she was nineteen years old.

It had been emailed to her account, meaning a former client had recommended the sender. It was a million, offered in cash, if she could get the job done. Storm boredly skimmed the description of the target-what he looked like, where he lived, and prepared to departure.

It should have been a simple job. She packed her twin blades, and a high powered sniper rifle. With luck she could be in and out of the Shin-Ra Mansion before the target even noticed her. She looked around her small apartment with its oddly cheerful decor. A computer sat in one corner on a desk. She'd recently replaced the screen after breaking the old one. The TV was broken. She hated the news and so had flung her remote at it. The bed was odd in contrast, a black and white bed spread with a bunch of stuffed animals in one corner. On the pillow was a stuffed wolf-her favorite of the plush named Bobo. Storm took a final look before turning off the light, locking the door, and slipping out into the hall.

Her vehicle of choice was a Jeep, running off gas instead of Mako. She lived in Rocket Town, so she'd be going around the mountain until she found a small tunnel recently made for Traffic. She popped on a CD, Nickelback playing immediately as she began to drive. An hour later she made her way to the back of Nibleheim. No one noticed her, she stuck to the shadows of the mountain side. Storm smirked as she spotted her entrance in the back of the old Shin-Ra mansion, a broken window. With out so much as a sound she'd made it through and was taking in her surroundings. The first floor was in ruins. According to her source, the target was in the basement, which she could only reach from the second floor. It was an odd design, but hey, Shin-Ra made it. What could one expect?

He was behind her in a second. How'd she missed all the Red, Storm wasn't sure. All she knew was by the time she reached for her swords, she'd been knocked in the back of the head with the butt of a shotgun.


	3. Chapter 3

Cirrus was the newest member of the Turks. He was tall, six foot, with black hair and brown eyes. His weapon of choice was a shorter version of a katana. He wore the Turk uniform with two exceptions. He'd removed the tie, yet kept the shirt buttoned, and wore a black headband. It had no significance beyond his thinking it was cool. Of course he also wore glasses, but he needed them to see. He'd been assigned to assist Reno and Rude most of the time. He hadn't made much of Rude's response, but Reno's first move as a coworker was to suggest to go get a drink.

"So, you got a girlfriend sport?" Reno asked as they sat at the bar of the Honey Bee Inn. Cirrus chuckled and nodded slowly.

"I met a girl a little while ago. Nice. Active. Real cutie. Funny." He sipped the Mike's Hard Lemonade. Reno chuckled a bit and nodded.

"I've got a girl like that. Or...I thought I did." Reno sipped his glass, a scotch. Cirrus cocked an eyebrow.

"You thought?"

"The boss liked the working girl more." Rude cut in, the first words he'd said since Cirrus joined, "So they had to stop. She was right though. If they stayed together, boss was sure to fire or disappear Reno."

"Yeah, well she could still have stayed...I mean..." Reno glanced at the counter. "...I told her I'd elope with her."

"A girl at the Honey Bee?" Cirrus coughed on his drink. Rude nodded once.

"And that's when she got scared and all out stopped talking to him." He said this as Reno downed his drink, waving his arm. "Boss is in the primo seat at the stage, closest to the pole." The Carmina Burana began playing. "And she's up next."

"Forgot the place was a strip club to boot...." Cirrus turned as the brunette stepped onto the stage, standing in the middle of the three poles, wrapped in one of those all too long white silk pieces of fabric. He dropped his bottle.


	4. Chapter 4

Ray was eighteen years old, though according to her Fake ID she was twenty-one. She'd been working at the Honey Bee Inn for three years, since she'd managed to slip away from Shin-Ra housing. She'd done it in the confusion of the President's Assassination, and the only people who knew about her genetics hadn't thought to check the Red Light District. The fake ID had been the hardest part to acquire, but once she had it was sucking up her modesty that came to be an issue.

However within a month she was the top dancer with the best moves. Her genetics helped. She moved quick and made every man in the bar envy the pole. She was sixteen when a red headed Turk came into the club. He'd been the first to make a move that she didn't push away. He'd been her first french kiss.

Her first lover.

However two years after her escape Reno brought in his boss, Rufus Shin-Ra, a man who'd been healed of the only thing Karma ever threw at him. He was a man used to getting what he wanted.

So her boss had approached her and stated that one of their most important clients favored her. Some wrangling and at first Ray refused. Her boss had mentioned he was Rufus Shin-Ra, but she ignored it at first.

Then Reno had come in with a black eye. It was a warning to her. Ray had told him what had happened. While Reno didn't deny the possibility, he didn't want to give it up. He said he loved her.

A month later Reno came in with a broken arm and a little black box.

Maybe if Ray knew for sure she loved him. But she didn't. Her heart belonged to someone else.

So she became Rufus Shin-Ra's favored. As it turned out Rufus hadn't been the one to send the brutes after Reno. Reno had overheard and gotten in bar brawls. Rufus never understood why and Ray never filled him in.

That night she began her usual routine, unwinding the bandages around the dancing poles. Each pole was a barrier, and a trick she'd picked up. She wrapped just so that while she was in not but a thong and strapless bra, both white and lacey, she was covered by the silk, hidden. Normally she'd throw her underwear out as well, then duck back to the curtain. But that day Ray turned over one as the silk came off of her completely, she saw an additional face amongst the usual costumers. Reno was staring at her like he should, like he'd seen her but naked, which he had. He'd touched her more tenderly then any other human.

But sitting next to him was a boy she hadn't seen in three or four years, it was blurry in her mind. His brown eyes were staring intently at her.

"Cirrus Thorson."


	5. Chapter 5

_The truth. You either spend your life in indignant or blissful ignorance. If it is indignant, then chances are when you do find out you miss ignorance._

_Storm Thorson and her brother Cirrus had been living in Shin-Ra housing since Storm was young. Something about a contract with their parents concerning Storm. Cirrus had come with. Their parents had vanished, but they were so young they barely noticed._

_Storm was ten when she'd met Ray Shiron in Shin-Ra Academy Training. She'd been transferred in after a surgery, something to do with birth and her mother. Her parents were never spoken of again._

_Storm and Ray didn't hang out right away, despite both being Shin-Ra babies. But when Storm turned 12, she and Ray began to associate. They became fast friends, and despite practice sessions they often found themselves pretending they were somewhere else. Neither of them had ever left Midgar, nor did they understand why they were special._

_So they decided to find out._

_"You two are lunatics." Cirrus stated this. He was 16 at the time. Storm was 13. Ray was 12. They were sneaking into the labs to run some basic tests. Storm was a semi-super genius and she knew how to run the machines. Ray had commented she always felt colder after the surgery. So the first plan was to run a test on her blood._

_"And the fool following the fools is?" Ray shot back. Storm laughed as Cirrus rolled his eyes, sliding Hojo's stolen ID Card through the Door Lock. The door slipped open and they were inside in a minute. Ray glanced back at Storm for a minute before they went in. Cirrus was off to find the sterilized needles while Storm set up the microscope. Ray sat beside Storm and sterilized her arm.  
"What ever we find, we're still friends, right?"  
"Of course we are!" Storm looked up from adjusting the microscope stage, as if annoyed at her for even considering otherwise. Cirrus laughed as he joined them.  
"What ever is f'ed up about you, it's been that way since you were a baby. So it won't change anything about you."_

If only that had been the case. 


	6. Chapter 6

Storm woke up slowly, her head still pounding. She hated dwelling in the past. All she ever found were memories she'd rather forget. She blinked her eyes slowly and looked out the window.

"You're awake. Good." The voice spoke and Storm grabbed for her weapons. All of which seemed to be absent.

"I disarmed you while you were out. A rule of thumb is that anyone that well armed sneaking in is trying to kill you."

Storm turned to glare at who she already new was her target. He looked a lot like the photo in the file. His black hair was long, probably uncombed. Red eyes that showed a wall of mentality, keeping anyone who would try to pry beyond it out. No wonder she'd seen a blur of red, that's all he seemed to wear. No, wait. There was something under the cloak. It was a pair of black work overalls? And what was with those boots? Or maybe the arm? She'd missed those elements of the file.

"Who the hell are you?" Her head was still pounding. Had she read the name?

"You came to kill me with out knowing who I was?" The man stood up. Storm looked around, trying to spot her weapons.

"First time I've ever been caught in the process...Mr...?"

"Valentine. They're not in here."  
"What's not in here?"  
"Your weapons. Hid them while you were asleep."  
"Where are they?"  
"Back to the point you were trying to kill me. How you feeling?"

"You won't be going anywhere anytime soon." He stood up slowly. "Your ankle is tied to the side. I'll get some food."  
"Why am I not dead?"  
"Whoever sent you would just send another hit man. I want to know who."  
"Client Confidentiality."  
"You'll be here a while then." He walked out with that. Storm glared after him behind the door as her memories cleared.

"Screw you, Vincent Valentine."


	7. Chapter 7

How many years ago had he seen the MRI that changed their lives forever?

That didn't matter right now.

Cirrus stood there as Reno cocked an eyebrow.  
"You know Ray?" He asked as Rude waved down the clean up crew.  
"...yeah. I know her. Haven't seen here since she was fourteen." _Four years ago. How long has she been here?  
"You dated her? When?" Cirrus glanced back at Reno who leaned back against the bar. _

_"Dunno. Few years ago. Two or three was when we started." _

___"She's been working here that long?"_ He didn't mean to yell it. Reno cocked an eyebrow as Rude eyed him.

"Something we don't know?"

Cirrus was silent for a moment before speaking.  
"Is there anyway I can talk to her?"

* * *

(Author's Note: Sorry for shortness of chapters here and there. Will happen here and there)


	8. Chapter 8

Ray was in a panic as she ducked under the back of the silk, through the curtain. Of all the eyes that had fallen on her, those two brown eyes were some of the few she truly hoped would never see her as she was now.

_You're something else._ He'd said that way back when. Somewhere between then and now she'd lost her grace. One of the other dancers glanced up as she passed.

"Hey! Sweetie! Something happen out there?"

She didn't respond. How could she? She'd have to reveal she wasn't really twenty-one. God. What could she do? She made her way to the back storage room and slipped inside with out being noticed anymore. She came in there frequently to, well, freak out.

"He can't be here..." Ray placed a hand on the mirror. It started to frost and she swore, flipping around to exit the building. Two figures clad in black suits were standing there. She was ready to cry.

_"_Yo." Reno waved as the other figure, Cirrus, approached.  
_"_Ray Shiron. It's been a while."He was about two feet away when she stepped back.

"I'm not the girl you used to know."  
"For sure. Somehow you aged past the three years since you were fifteen and became twenty one?" Cirrus asked this, a combination of dismay and distress in his tone and expression. Ray saw Reno's mouth drop.

"You were sixteen when-"

"You gave me the ID Cirrus." Ray hissed this as she glared. She was glad it was dark in there. Reno had seen bits of her that were currently covered up. This was the most Cirrus had.  
"Yes! Expecting you to get a decent job!"  
"Which I did. It's not my fault our terms of decent differed."  
"You were a minor when we had sex?" Reno interrupted as Cirrus froze.  
"You had sex with him?"  
"I was posing as an eighteen year old from the moment I left!" She exclaimed. "It would be weird for the Honey Bee Dancer to declare, by the way, we can't have sex because I'm sixteen!"

"I mean I knew she was a virgin..." Reno trailed off and Cirrus glanced at him. "Good time for you to stop talking."

"Is something going on I don't know about?" The voice came from behind Cirrus and Reno. They flipped around and saluted quickly to the blonde man in the white suit. Ray gulped and bowed her head to the man who 'favored' her.  
"Rufus."


	9. Chapter 9

_It was frozen._

Storm couldn't make sense of it. Cirrus had extracted Ray's blood and put a drop on the glass slide. Now the blood was frozen.  
"So, what's wrong with me?" Ray tilted her head. Storm shrugged.  
"Can't tell. Pass the needle back over? I want a bigger sample."  
"Sizist." Cirrus said this and Ray laughed. Storm didn't understand it. Then her brother gasped.  
"It's frozen!" He dropped the needle and it shattered. The blood it contained didn't spill or pool, no, it shattered too. The three stated at it before Ray stood up and went through a drawer.  
"What are you..." Cirrus began to ask and yelled out as she took a scalpel to her arm. Storm was there the next second, tossing it away as Cirrus went to get help. When he returned he saw the same thing storm did.

Starting at Ray's arm was a frozen bloody icicle.


	10. Chapter 10

"Can I have my bag, please?"

Storm hadn't spoked to her mark and or captor. However she needed a medication in her bag. A cold sweat was beginning to form and she was burning up. Vincent looked up as the speckles of darkness appeared in her sight.

_Burn! Stab! Kill!_

Storm let out a scream as the voice spoke.  
"Hurry!" Something must have alerted him. Vincent ran out to get it as her blood began to boil.

_Burn! Stab! Kill!  
_  
"Shut up! No! I won't" She wasn't sure when she broke the handcuffs. Only that Vincent grabbed the arm that had been secure with his metal arm, gripping it tight as he managed to shoot the injection pen into her shoulder. Storm stared up at him as she collapsed next to him, into the red eyes that showed some sort of compassion.  
"Thank you..." And she was out.


	11. Chapter 11

Cirrus bowed his head lightly as Rufus looped an arm around Ray. Her eyes seemed distant and he couldn't read then.  
"Sir." Cirrus noticed something cold in the way Reno said it. He didn't usually treat their boss that way. It was all because Ray was there, in the President's embrace.  
"Is there a problem, newbie?" That was the name he referred to Cirrus by. Rude came to the rescue as he approached.  
"Miss seemed spooked when she left the stage. Came to check on her."  
"Is that the case, Sunshine?" Rufus turned to Ray who merely nodded. /Sunshine?/ Cirrus made a mental note to ask Rude about that.  
"Well, thank you for keeping an eye on my lady friend. At ease gentlemen."

Once Rufus was out of range Reno turned to Cirrus.  
"You owe me a drink."  
"Obliged."

An hour of beer passed by before Cirrus spoke.  
"Sunshine?"  
"Her stage name." Rude said this because Reno had passed out. "Ray of Sunshine. Or it was originally."  
"Originally?"  
"I think now she goes by Destiny up there."  
"Ironic." Cirrus snorted.  
"Hows that?"  
"I think destiny has intervened."


	12. Chapter 12

_When did he become a Turk? When did he start training? Was it before or after Deep Ground? I wonder how Storm is?_

These thoughts flew through Ray's mind as the Limo drove down the street of Midgar. A hand fell on her shoulder and she glanced over to the smiling face of Rufus Shin-Ra. He wasn't as bad a man as his father. He was a good man. She just didn't love him. However if he found out _what _she was...well, that was why she stayed with him, so he wouldn't look into it.  
"Do you and Cirrus have a history?"  
"What?" Ray stared at him. "No! He's just an old friend. I hadn't seen him in a while. It's just my occupation..." Her eyes fell. He lifted a hand to her cheek.  
"You are the most honorable woman in that club. You hold onto yourself. You don't whore yourself out for tips. You're just a dancer." Rufus stated as they arrived at the apartment complex. Ray snorted as she stepped out.  
"Just. Right."


	13. Chapter 13

_Storm, Cirrus, and Ray didn't anything about the incident for a year. During that time Strorm seemed to change. Hojo ordered her to have more training. Ray was a Hollander project so she wound up released into a different section of the academy for a while. Cirrus drove with Ray a lot of the time because Storm's academy was in the Shin-Ra building. That was when Cirrus had begun to train in Shin-Ra's security branch. He was in the van that drove her and one other person, a boy named Molten. All they really knew about him was that he and Ray came out of the same project, but not what they were. Ray and Molten became friends and Cirrus interacted with them for a while. They had classes together though, so the two would end up coming back to the van with stories. Every weekend Ray, Cirrus, and Storm would hang out. Every weekend Ray seemed to be more irritable, her eyes heavier._

_Then they captured the final Cetra._

_Cirrus had wolf whistled in appreciation. Storm seemed more at peace around the girl in the pink dress, at ease. So Ray had insisted they visit her for the whole three days Aeris was a prisoner. Avalanche came and busted her out after that._

_The three of them were on their own again. They were talking when the Entertainment Room went into lock down. As Cirrus stood up to check out the door, Storm began screaming as she fell out of her seat. Ray ran to her.  
"Storm! What's wrong?"  
"This voice...it won't shut up...it wants me to do things....I don't want to..." She grabbed Ray's arm as her brother returned. "It keeps going on about...I need to help 'brother' with 'Reunion'..." As she said this, Cirrus saw Ray's face change. He knew she'd talked to Aeris alone now and then. He suspected she knew something she wasn't saying. Ray looked up at Cirrus slowly.  
"Before the Lock Down ends...in the confusion...Storm and I need to leave." _


	14. Chapter 14

Storm awoke to the whistle of a tea kettle. She sat up slowly, holding her head as she tried to recall past the tranquilizer.  
"Here." A clawed hand offered her a cup of tea. She looked up slowly and took it, her hand shaking slighty as an after effect of the attack.  
"You're an odd man, Valentine."  
"Why do you use my last name?" Was all he said, as if the prospect ammused him.  
"You're a mark. I'm supposed to kill you."  
"You're not the first to try."  
"I'll be the first to succeed."  
"You're spirited, I'll give you that."  
"Why didn't you kill me?"

Vincent fell quiet before speaking.  
"I know what it's like to have a monster inside you." He stated, "A monster with nothing more then the urge to destroy. I am familiar with the effects of Jenova cells."

Storm rolled over, seeking to ignore him, but a question was in her mind. _How does he know?__  
_


	15. Chapter 15

It was late when Cirrus returned to his  
apartment. None the less, arms wrapped around him.  
"I missed you." The girl stated. Cirrus laughed a bit as he spun around and picked up the scantily clad ninja.  
"Wasn't sure if I should expect you, Yuffie." He stated. Yuffie grinned and kissed him.  
"I said I missed you."  
"Are you being honest with me?"  
"Do you care if you get sex out of the deal?"

Cirrus chuckled again as he put her down.  
"Not tonight. I've been drinking. Motion of the ocean could cause up chuck."  
"Ewwe." Yuffie glanced at the fridge. "You never told me if _they_ should worry me."

Cirrus followed her eyes to a photo of himself, his sister, and Ray at Golden Saucer. Something in his friend's eyes had been different back then. When he'd seen her that night she seemed tired and worn down.  
"Not a threat, Yuffie. Storm is my sister, who I haven't seen her in years. Ray is a friend who until tonight I could say the same."  
"She's pretty. Where'd you see her?"  
"Honey Bee. She's a dancer."

No sooner then the words left his mouth did Cirrus realize his mistake. Yuffie's cheeks puffed out as he explained.  
"The guys took me out! She and Reno used to have a thing. Now she's the bosses girl!" He exclaimed. Yuffie blinked for a moment.  
"So she's the mistress of President Shin-Ra. Nice. A gold digger."  
"Ray's not like that!" Cirrus snapped. Yuffie eyed him.  
"Then what does she see in him?"  
"Wish I knew. Wish I knew."


	16. Chapter 16

Ray slipped out of the bed quietly as she held the sheet around her body. Rufus was asleep, worn out. Ray couldn't afford to sleep away this time as she crept into his study. Once the door was shut she turned on his laptop.  
"Have a good night?"

Molten appeared over they webcam and Ray rolled her eyes.  
"It was alright. Did Ashen get the pass codes?"  
"She, ah, forgot. Oceania got them though."  
"I wonder what you see in her, you know." Ray began typing the them into the Shin-Ra database. "Ashen, I mean. All she is sleep, shop, and whine. I mean, we share common interests but I ran out of shit to talk to her about."  
"I like her flare."  
"Remember how her adoptive family, the Rhapsdos's, died and she inherited a fortune? Remember how she burned clear through a billion Gil in five years?"  
"Three."  
"My point is valid. Now she whines and refuses to do anything."  
"You're not being fair."  
"I get to be pissed when she blows through funding that mostly comes from my dancing. She wants to spend, she can join me."  
"Let's drop the subject."  
"Found project Esper-Kin. Downloading it now." Ray was clicking at the keyboard rapidly when she heard Rufus shouting.  
"Shit-I think my cover is blown!"


	17. Chapter 17

_Apparently Ray had been thinking about the possibility longer then she admitted.  
"But where will you go?" Cirrus exclaimed.  
"I've communicated with people. They can help Storm with...her problem." She trailed off, referring to the voice Storm had yelled about.  
"Is it that common?"  
"In Shin-Ra experiments Hojo had to do with, apparently. Can you help us escape or not?"_

_Cirrus stared at her, then his sister who'd passed out.  
"The stairs. No one guards them. Ever. Go. I'll cover you..."  
"What about you?" It was clear Ray feared for his safety. Cirrus laughed and shook his head.  
"No offense, but they put the place on lock down. I'm safer in here. Besides, if they come looking...I can claim you knocked me out. And I have no idea what happened."  
_

_Ray quietly picked up Storm and made her way for the door. She paused, as if to say something, but descended with out the words escaping. _


End file.
